MORE ALGORITHMS

UrbanSpoon Tries Random Suggestions

UrbanSpoon, one of the most popular applications for the iPhone, tries for randomness with a slot-machine widget. Shake the phone and three dials — for location, cuisine and price — spin to find a random restaurant. The algorithm uses high-tech crowdsourcing, substituting for the serendipity that customers are seeking in their lives. The application gets about a million shakes a day.

However, it turns out that even this application has failed in its effort.

According to an article in the New York Times, a funny thing happens with frequent users of the app:

"They start relying on its search engine or the “Talk of the Town” feature, an algorithm that generates suggestions that uncannily echo local sentiment."

Thus, the serendipity is lost.

An App Designed for Serendipitously Meeting Strangers

Developers at MIT have also tried to solve the problem of serendipity and integrate into a social setting by creating an application actually named Serendipity. According to it's creators:

"Serendipity consists of a central server containing information about individuals in a user's proximity and several methods of matchmaking. The similarity score is calculated by extracting the commonalities between two users' profiles and summed using user-defined weights. If the score is above the threshold set by both users, the server alerts the users that there is someone in their proximity whom might be of interest. When it has been determined that the two individuals should have an interaction, an alert is sent to the phones with each user's picture and a list of talking points."Source: http://reality.media.mit.edu/serendipity.php

Another serendipitous solution

Services like Zite and Flipboard customize what we read and see based on our social networks and our reading habits, but even there, some services —such as the iPad app News.me inject some serendipity into things by allowing you to effectively browse someone else’s social stream. Not only can you see your own Twitter news stream, but you can also see the Twitter news streams of any other News.me users who you also follow on Twitter. These people should already be familiar to you, but instead of seeing what they are tweeting out, you get to see the news that is being recommended to them by the people they follow. This somehow expands your own filter bubble. It's still kind of algorithmic filtered stream, but it’s your personal responsibility to tap on others’ streams and find out the little serendipity. source:Aol Tech Exclusive News

So, are more algorithms and applications and resources the answer to our lack of serendipity?

Although many have tried, no algorithm has successfully injected serendipity into our filtered online experience in the same way we experience serendipity in our physical lives.

Why should take another look at algorithms for creating serendipity?

Although there are many issues discussed in the SOCIAL NETWORKING FILTERS section, algorithms are not all bad, and may offer opportunity for improvement through the following - especially if the algorithms are created through a more democratic process:

1. Algorithms are useful and efficient - They quickly aggregate and filter information, and if written correctly can be sure to present all sides of an issue with equal opportunity and emphasis.2. Algorithms can shape who we become (or don't become): Although a lot of the weight of their output is based on what a person already knows about themselves, if the code is improved it could begin to provide alternatives for changes in identity, time, place, behavior and / or attitude.

3. Algorithms limit the ability to stumble upon new things: Perhaps with the option to include opinions outside the spectrum of your online identity, we may gain better opportunities to stumble upon ideas, philosophies, and points of view that were hidden before.

4. Algorithms create a controlled environment: Perhaps by providing more user-control, we can begin to teach algorithms to present the information we didn't know we were looking for. Can taking control of the algorithm that is providing you news, search results, and friend suggestions open up the opportunity for a more well-rounded result? 5. Algorithms are kept a secret: In his article Algorithmic Culture, Striphas explains that we are not aware of the reasons we see the search results we do. The formulas by which many popular algorithms work are sealed in a mysterious "black box." Perhaps if we were allowed access to the secret we could begin to shape a new, robust online experience for ourselves.